It can be pretty harrowing when celebrities reveal what they actually eat to maintain their famous figures, though it’s comforting to know that some old school icons–so often regarded for their less draconian beauty ideals–also ate like complete weirdos in order to stay in shape. Marilyn Monroe laments her sacrifices in the image above, saying:

“Frankly, I’ve never considered my own figure so exceptional; until quite recently, I seldom gave it any thought at all. My biggest single concern used to be getting enough to eat. Now I have to worry about eating too much. I never used to bother with exercises. Now I spend at least 10 minutes each morning working out with small weights. I have evolved my own exercises, for the muscles I wish to keep firm, and I know they are right for me because I can feel them putting the proper muscles into play as I exercise.”

Yes, the gold standard of pin-up figures herself apparently followed an eccentric eating plan, according to a recently-unearthed 1952 issue of Pageant magazine. Even the world’s most famous hourglass had to… mix raw eggs into milk? Here’s the unexpectedly weird Marilyn Monroe diet:

BREAKFAST. I’ve been told that my eating habits are absolutely bizarre, but I don’t think so. Before I take my morning shower, I start warming a cup of milk on the hot plate I keep in my hotel room. When it’s hot, I break two raw eggs into the milk, whip them up with a fork, and drink them while I’m dressing. I supplement this with a multi-vitamin pill, and I doubt if any doctor could recommend a more nourishing breakfast for a working girl in a hurry.

DINNER. My dinners at home are startlingly simple. Every night I stop at the market near my hotel and pick up a steak, lamb chops or some liver, which I broil in the electric oven in my room. I usually eat four or five raw carrots with my meat, and that is all. I must be part rabbit; I never get bored with raw carrots.

P.S. It’s a good thing, I suppose, that I eat simply during the day, for in recent months I have developed the habit of stopping off at Wil Wright’s ice cream parlor for a hot fudge sundae on my way home from my evening drama classes. I’m sure that I couldn’t allow myself this indulgence were it not that my normal diet is composed almost totally of protein foods.”

So she mainlined protein (raw eggs and liver, even) until the evening, when she’d crack and eat a sundae. We’re sure our health junkie contingent will have something to say about this.

Also, here’s her fitness routine, which we kind of found disappointing because we hoped all Old Hollywood movie stars used those crazy vintage exercise machines with the vibrating stomach band. Oh, well.